An author, graphic designer, or other content creator may desire at times, e.g., for artistic and/or other visual effect, to have text follow a path other than a traditional linear path running (in English) from left to right along a line parallel to the bottom of the page. Software applications have provided limited ability to include text along a nonlinear path, but to date such capabilities have been limited to a constrained set of predetermined paths or path types and have not supported such common word processing functionality as arbitrary user specified styling, wrapping, etc. In addition, in some cases text has been laid out along a path in a manner resulting in undesirable effects, such as one or more adjacent glyphs interfering with (e.g., overlapping or being placed too near) each other. Therefore, there is a need for a more flexible and effective way to render text along a nonlinear path.